Steps to consider to start and grow a company. Basics are provided to help entrepreneurs. Examples may relate to Biotech, Pharma and Medical Device businesses, but the ideas apply to most technology fields.

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Supervising Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs

Can you
name all of the characters in Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs?They are Snow White, Dopey, Sneezy, Happy,
Sleepy, Grumpy, Bashful, Doc and let’s not forget the Witch.We will forget the handsome prince because
that is you the entrepreneur for now.

This may
sound odd, but they all worked for me in one capacity or another over the years;
or, at least individuals with personalities that match!Having a business, means you will encounter
many different personalities in your staff or even in those above you.Your ability to cope is critical to your
survival and growth as a manager. Learning
to lead a diverse team is critical.

Once in a
large organization, a friend of mine was assigned an employee by a
supervisor.This employee was known well
by everyone.The supervisor transferred the
employee with the comments to my friend, “ I Want to Give You the Chance to Hone Your Managerial
Skills to a Fine Edge.”You can
guess what that meant.The employee
could do good work when guided well, but certainly had an attitude to say the
least.

In a
startup, you do have the option of removing staff, but do not think this so
simple.When an employee is above the
age of 40, it requires certain special legal sign off to prevent age discrimination
claims.If the person has an ethnic
background, you can have issues of discrimination.There is always the fact that a removal it is
not easy even if it is only that you feel guilty; you always do.

The
simplest thing to do is to hire well, but remember developing your management
skill is critical.You can have the best
and brightest but if you lead improperly, your team is not going to perform
well.Having one poor performing person
can cause others to harbor resentment.So hire well and keep a look out for some of the following personalities.

Witch:Very smart and wants to be the top dog.The person has an ego that the most difficult to deal with.Take special care because this person will do
anything to anyone to get on top or stay on top.They are often over whelmed with their own
importance in life.You will only know
you got stabbed in the back when you are pulling the knife out the front.

Snow White:At first glance, this person seems the fairest in the land.Later, they end up sleeping on the job. If
you can ever get their attention, they really can be the best.Just keep them awake.

Dopey:The name says it all.They really
do screw up and most of the time it is something that a normal person would not
do.For example, once an employee
planning to wash glassware plugged the sink and left the water running as he
went to the bathroom.About 30 min
later, the people from several floors below came running to my office to find
what caused the flood.They can perform
simple tasks but require constant monitoring.

Sneezy:People have allergies or get sick and this is rather common.Most can handle the day to day problem and
are great workers.Some seem to be out
on sick leave all the time, allergy or not.Once I had an employee that managed to have more than 240 hrs. of sick
leave in 4 months.The employee was not
actually sick, just took the leave. Due the potential for a wide range of
possible legal issues that could arise if fired we retained the employee.It required day to day monitoring of use of
leave and it was a year before this person found another job and left.

Sleepy: This person is kind of like Snow White but
without the promise of being a terrific employee.They are good, but not outstanding and may be
lacking in potential.They will not pay
attention and will likely get things wrong due to not listening to instructions.

Happy:It is great to be happy, but some are defined as “inappropriately happy”.They don’t get that their performance is
lacking and nothing you can say will change that.They never seem to measure up but they think
they are fantastic.They always believe
the “sun will come up tomorrow”.

Grumpy: Some people have a disposition
that is curmudgeonly in nature.Nothing
is ever right and they always complain.They never want to do what is needed as it is not in their position
description.They have the ability to
bring your team down even if their performance on the job is good.

Bashful: This type may be ok in the right
position, but do not count on sending them to do your sales or networking.They could use your help coming out of their
shell and sometimes can be great workers.Performance is dependent on whether they have other issues or not.

Doc: There is always one “smart ass” in
every group.Doc knows everything about
everything.It does not matter if what
he thinks he knows is just wrong, because he is an expert. He never will
question what he knows nor will he seek alternative verifications to ensure he
is right. You will always need to check
up on what info you get from this person.